ArtistDale Applemann
Fletcher's 11
Date2015
MediumAcrylic on canvas
Dimensions40 × 40 in. (101.6 × 101.6 cm)
Framed Size: 45 1/4 × 45 1/4 in. (114.9 × 114.9 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2018.001.2
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
- Office of Veterans Affairs (441 4th Street NW, 707N)
DescriptionWhile pregnant with her first child, Dale Appleman took a friend to visit Fletcher’s Boathouse. The artist made a number of polaroids of rowboats from different angles. Back in her studio, she recognized something about this focus on prows and sterns. The view into an open boat recalled a small black and white photo of her 5 year old self rowing alone on a lily pond. Later as Appleman realized that her mother must have shot this picture while in the boat with her, it held greater meaning as her mother had recently died and she was about to have her own daughter.
In “Fletcher’s/ 11,” the artist played with the interlocking interior boat shapes using vivid color and contrast to abstract and heighten the way the parts fit together.
